Island



(No Model.)

C. B. TRUE.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

No. 244,096, Patented July 12,1881,

INVENTOFM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

,OYRUS B. TRUE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE PROVIDENCE TOOL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

' FEEDING DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,096, dated July 12, 1881.

Application filed August 13, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CYRUS B. TRUE, of the city and county of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful 5 Improvement in Feeding Devices for Sewing Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to that class of feeding devices for sewing-machines which is usually known as the four-motioned feed, consisting mainly of a bar having a notched face, to which I 5 face forward, downward, rearward, and upward motions are imparted to secure the requisite movement of the cloth passing through the machine.

Prior to my invention a feed-bar of this class has had its rear end pivoted to the bed-plate of the machine, the pivotal pin passing through a slot in said end, so that the bar could bodily move longitudinally. By this construction vertical bodily motions of the bar have been prevented, and its notched face has therefore moved upward and downward in arcs of a circle. The result of these swinging movements of the notched face has been to full or pucker the cloth under the presser-foot before the needle has been withdrawn, thereby producing slightly-imperfect work.

When it is considered that the notched face of the bar must be adjusted to varying heights above the cloth-plate, in order that it may 5 properly feed fabrics of different thicknesses and structure, and remembering the fact that the bar has been pivoted below the plane of the cloth-plate, it will be seen that only at one definite adjustment can the said face be parallel, when feeding, with the surfaces of the presser-foot and cloth-plate. A higher or lower adjustmentof the notched face inclines it to the face of the presser-foot, and the function of the bar is imperfectly performed.

In accordance with one portion of my invention a four-motion feed-bar is so mounted upon and connected to its actuating-lever that the serrated face of the feed-bar moves in the line of a rectangle, instead of a circular line, thus 50 assuring at all adjustments of said face with relation to the surface of the work-plate that parallelism with the coincident surface of the presser-foot which is requisite for absolutely preventing the falling or puckering of the fabric in feeding.

In accordance with another portion of my invention the feed-bar is so mounted upon its actuating-lever that said bar may slightly tilt or rock longitudinally thereon, thus enabling the serrated face to adjust itself to a properengagement with a fabric so presented as to form a rough or irregular seam, as when radiating or diverging seams merge with the seam beneath the presser-foot, or when knots or other excrescences occur in the fabric.

For obtaining the rectangular movements of the feeding-face I have supported the feedbar wholly upon the feed-bar lever, instead of having the tail end of said bar supported by a slide-connection of some kind, and only the front end of said bar supported by its lever, as always heretofore withfeed-bars of the class referred to, in which the serrated face is integral with or rigidly attached to the bar.

For obtaining the self-adjusting capacity of 7 5 the serrated face the feed-bar is pivotally mounted wholly upon the feed-bar lever, and provided with side guides, which assure a true longitudinal movement, and springs are applied to said feed-bar, which hold the bar to its seat on the lever and normally maintain the serrated face of the feed-bar in a horizontal position parallel with the surface of the work-plate, but permit the feed-bar to slightly tilt or rock longitudinally. The prompt engagement with and release from the fabric by my feed-bar enables corners and short circles to be more readily turned than with feed-bars which at their serrated faces move in a circular line, and therefore gradually engage with and release from the fabric, and the yielding capacity of my bar enables seams of irregular thickness, as wellas ordinary seams, to be more readily run in straight lines than with a rigid and unyielding bar.

Broadly considered, it is not new to provide for a yielding capacity in the serrated feeding-face of a sewing-machine; but as heretofore developed a serrated feed-block has been pivotally mounted horizontally upon the verroe tical end of a lever for co-operating with a presserwheel, and the feeding-face of said block was, when at rest, maintained in a horizontal position by vertical springs bearing against opposite ends thereof, attached to and rising from the lever, and said block was permitted to tilt or rock by the flexibility of its springs. This prior feed-block lever, however, had such longitudinal and vibratory movements as caused the feed-block to move in a circular line, and the springs were so applied to the feed-block that one of them necessarily bore all the feeding-strain, and if it yielded at all it would, of necessity, permit the serrated face to tilt rearward during every forward movement, as in feeding. As organized by me the serrated face has no tilting tendency in connection with its normal operation.

The several features of my invention, after being fully described, will be specified in detail in the several claims hereunto annexed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents the under side of the bed-plate of a sewing-machine provided with my improvement, and Fig. 2 shows avertical section of the same on line x 00.

A is the bed-plate of the machine. B is the feed-bar, having, as usual in this class of feedbars, a tail-piece and a serrated or notched face, I), rigidly attached to or integral therewith, and O is a lever pivoted to the bed-plate, which actuates the feed-bar in a well-known manner.

The plate Ais provided, as usual, with a slot, a, in which the notched face I) of the feedbar moves.

Located upon the under face of the bed-plate is a slotted stud, D, which receives and laterally guides the rear end of the bar, as shown in both figures.

The forward portion of the bar B is seated upon the lever O, as shown in Fig. 2, and is provided with a shoulder, b, which engages the side of the lever by the force of a spiral spring, E. This spring, in conjunction with a flat spring, F, attached to the bed-plate and bearing upon the rear end of the bar B, secures the constant engagement of said bar with the lever O.

The forces of the springs E F are relatively proportional to the distance between the bearing-point of the bar upon the lever O and the front and rear ends respectively of said bar, thereby preserving its balance. The bar and its notched face, therefore, move bodily in rectangular planes, as shown in Fig.2, the upward and downward motions being perpendicular to the face of the cloth-plate, and the bar can tilt slightly to adjust its notched face to the surface of the cloth under the presser-foot.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. In a sewing-machine, the combination of a feed-bar having a tail-piece and a serrated face rigidly attached to or integral therewith, and a feed-bar lever which wholly supports the feed-bar and moves its serrated face in rectangular planes, substantially as described.

2. In a sewing-machine, the combination, with a feed-bar lever, of a feed-bar having a tail-piece and a serrated face rigidly attached to or integral therewith, and free to rock or tilt upon its lever, and side guides between which the tail-piece is located, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the feed-bar lever, the side guides, the feed-bar having a tail-piece between said guides, and also having a serrated face, said bar being supported by and capable of tilting upon the lever, and the springs for maintaining the feed-bar in position upon said lever and permitting it to tilt, substantially as described.

CYRUS B. TRUE.

Witnesses:

W. H. THURSTON, I. KNIGHT. 

